Polymer Clay: Birthday Turtle

David’s mom Becky celebrated another year on Earth, so of course, DIY presents were in order for this crafty lady.

This year, I made her her own bottle cap beach. This featured a small turtle, sand, real sea stars, and real shells.

Instead of using the regular Corona Light bottle caps, I used a bigger caps of Coors Light. The base for the beach was made of ecru polymer clay by Premo, and given a bit of an incline on one side so the turtle doesn’t lay completely fat and submerged in the water later on.

By mixing the artificial sand with liquid clay, I was able to spread the sand around the entire ecru base and make it stay put.

I used to create my sand out of clay, but it was a time-consuming process meant for another day. David and I found this jar of sand at Hobby Lobby for less than $4, and it works just as well.

I created the turtle using two different shades of green polymer clay and a dark brown for his eyes. To create the pink blush on the turtle’s head and the back of his shell, I shaved off a bit of soft pastel dust with a blade and used a dry paintbrush to dab the pink dust on the turtle.

A small violet bucket filled with sand finished the look temporarily. I popped the project in the oven to bake before starting phase two.

After the project came out of the oven and cooled, phase two was ready to commence.

I added two sea stars from David’s forgotten collection in the kitchen drawer, and two shells from a $3 mixed bag at Hobby Lobby. Once everything was put into place, I poured resin halfway up the bottle cap so the turtle was only partially submerged.

The bottle cap was placed out in the patio, under the hot sun, to allow the resin to cure. I left it outside overnight.

Becky enjoyed her little present, and we topped it off with a handmade birthday card, signed by me, David, and Onyx (we dipped her right paw into some light green watercolor and stamped it onto the card).